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On Joseph Ratzinger's Eucharistic Ecclesiology “From the open side of the Lord”: on Joseph Ratzinger’s eucharistic ecclesiology John Anthony Berry Faculty of Theology, University of Malta My immediate acceptance of the invitation to contribute to this group of essays in honour of Professor George Grima had various motivations. “Dun George”, as we past students affectionately call him, has not only induced us in theology as a Dean of the Faculty and Lecturer of Moral Theology, but also instilled in us an unrelenting sense to seek convergence among the contrasting lines of thought under study. His mark on the Faculty is certainly his determination to adopt and to exercise an interdisciplinary approach in theology in order to ensure a safe path to seek the truth. Furthermore, what strikes me in Professor Grima is his sense of readiness and ability to make his interlocutors feel welcome and attended to at any time regardless of all other pressing commitments. What I shall be presenting here, is a modest reflection on the Church in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger (1927–).1 It is my hope that this paper somehow evokes Professor Grima’s wit in providing food for thought to countless students at the University of Malta and elsewhere, as well as his inimitable joyful character who has led his regular listeners, parishioners, and friends grow in their faith while seeking understanding. My aim is to examine Ratzinger’s claim that a proper understanding of the Church is obtained from the standpoint of her liturgy.2 In 1 For a deeper examination of the topic, see John Anthony Berry, The Origin and the Nature of the Church in the Life and Writings of Joseph Ratzinger (STL diss., Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2006). 2 See Joseph Ratzinger, God and the World (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2002), 343. For a solid and a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Joseph Ratzinger, see Lieven Boeve and Gerard Mannion, The Ratzinger Reader (London: T&T Clark, 2010); John C. Cavadini, THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY this sense, while some peo ple have the temptation to make her handier and more practical, to some extent make her a human construction, the Church must purely be experienced and thought of as a mystery emanating from God himself. This is not to say that there is no human or practical side to it. In contrast to some of his contemporaries, Ratzinger’s theological reflection on the Church is distinctive for his effort to avoid all dualisms in its understanding. He shows a complete sense of disagreement to descriptions of the Church that seem to be one-sided. For instance, against the emphasis of Hans Küng (1928–) that the Church is basically a human fellowship radically in need of structural reform, Ratzinger would definitely direct his strong focus on Christ and the Church as the channels of God’s grace to the world. The same would apply to the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff (1938–) whose ecclesiology is characterized by an “orthopraxis” that precedes orthodoxy. Instead of an over-emphasis or an one-sidedness, Ratzinger seeks synthesis. This applies in particular to the definition of the Church as the “People of God” and as the “Body of Christ”, images used at the Second Vatican Council. The Church, he says, is “the People of God by virtue of the Body of Christ.”3 In this regard, Ratzinger points out that the key-idea, which best enables us to understand the Church of Jesus Christ, as revelation presents her to humanity, is the Eucharist.4 Put briefly and almost paradoxically: it is by eating the Body of Christ that God’s people become the Body of Christ. The establishment of the new covenant and the bringing of the New People of God into being is therefore a manifestation of the supreme love by which Christ sacri ficed himself on the behalf of humanity. By privileging the relation of the Eucharist to the Church, Ratzinger provides then a key to understand his ecclesiological writings. His approach evidences his inclination to integrate the mentioned conciliar images as to present a “eucharistic ecclesiology.”5 He explains that this understanding of the Church surpasses what he calls an oscillation between a stress on the Church’s visible, external side and an emphasis on her contrasting invisible, interior aspect.6 Eucharistic ecclesiology, Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI (Notre Dame/IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012); Maximilian Heinrich Heim, Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2007); and Aidan Nichols, The Thought of Pope Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger (London: T&T Clark, 2007). 3 Joseph Ratzinger, Nuovo Popolo di Dio (Brescia: Queriniana, 1971), 97. 4 For Ratzinger, the centrality of the Eucharist lies in fashioning Christ’s body. The same idea is presented in Luke’s words: “This is my body which is given for you” and again “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”, Lk 22:19-20. 5 Joseph Ratzinger, “Conference of Cardinal Ratzinger at the opening of the Pastoral Congress of the Diocese of Aversa (Italy)”, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed. (23 January 2002): 5-8. 6 See Joseph Ratzinger, Popolo e Casa di Dio in Sant’ Agostino (Milano: Jaca Book, 2005), 77. 94 On JOseph RatzingeR’s euchaRistic ecclesiOlOgy • JOhn anthOny BeRRy therefore, focuses on Christ as the one who willed to found the Church as well as the one who nourishes and builds her up in the Spirit. The Eucharist, therefore, is understood entirely in a dynamic ecclesiological perspective. The Church is indivisible from the Eucharist. One presupposes the other, and neither can exist without the other. So, while the Church can be defined as eucharistic in nature, equally true is the affirmation that the Eucharist emerges as the heart of the Church’s life. His aim is to steer away from possibly misleading terms, even biblical ones – that could be simply read in sociological terms – and rather to identify in Jesus of Nazareth the true foundation and life of the Church. As shall be seen later on in this study, Ratzinger explains that the origin and nature of the Church are to be interpreted through a closer rereading of the narrative of the institution of the Eucharist as part of the passion narratives. In this light, what constitutes the “heart of the Church” is the Eucharist. It is the Eucharist, then, the source through which one can experience and live in communion with God and fellow humans. While Ratzinger presents a eucharistic ecclesiology, not only must one pay attention to complement a sociological interpretation of the Church with Revelation as a dogmatic truth, but also to identify and distinguish among the various levels that are at play in speaking of a eucharistic ecclesiology. What is examined here is the relation of the Eucharist to the Church in the light of Christ, the sacraments and the Christian life. The primary level, then, is Christological. This means that in Christ, particularly shedding his life on the cross, the Church has its foundation and life in the world. The second level is a sacramental one, where the believing Christian community gathers around one altar to celebrate the breaking of the bread and to live in communion with each other. The third level is the existential one where belonging to the Church implies bearing witness, leading a Christian life, and being of service to others in the community and in the world. Our aim here is to elucidate the importance and complementarity of each dimension of Ratzinger’s eucharistic ecclesiology after having presented his understanding that ecclesial communion has its centre in the Eucharist. 95 THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY AND HUMAN DIGNITY 1. The Eucharist as the Heart of the Church Having so much at heart the epigraph Unus panis, unum corpus sumus multi – “We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread”7 – for his dissertation People of God and House of God in Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church, Ratzinger explains that, what happens in the Eucharist is the uniting of Christians. The Eucharist, therefore, can be understood entirely in a dynamic ecclesiological perspective. The Eucharist, in this sense, brings Christians from their state of separation into the unity of the one bread and the one body.8 He writes: The Church is eucharistic fellowship. She is not just a people: out of the many people of which she consists there is arising one people, through the one table that the Lord has spread for us all. The Church is, so to speak, a network of eucharistic fellowships, and she is united, ever and again, through the one body we all receive.9 In a lecture on the doctrine of the Eucharist held in the summer of 1963, Ratzinger explained that Augustine, in a sermon for those newly baptised at the Easter Vigil,10 presented a key sentence from the First Letter to the Corinthians to explain what the Eucharist is. According to Augustine (354–430 A.D.), in one sentence, there is the whole mystery of what the newly baptised are receiving: It needs to be made clear to you what it is that you have received. Hear briefly, then, what the apostle – or, rather, Christ through the apostle – says about the sacrament of the Body of the Lord. “We who are many are one Body, … one Bread.” Behold, that is all; I have told it to you quickly; but weigh these words, do not count them!11 Here the main emphasis of the Eucharist becomes apparent.
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